Having nothing of interest to say today (having already supplied a complete inventory of my Laundry Area yesterday), I was reading the diaries that I read, and found myself following this chain:melwadel told a tale of birthday upcoming (and I love that), just a bit of shopping (also), and seeing things for a moment from The Huz�s point of view. Which I avoid, when possible, but sometimes you just gotta. And she mentioned that lisamcc had said much the same in her diary; I quote her, as did melwadel: �I imagine it must be extraordinarily taxing to be married to me.� True for so many of us, I daresay.
And amusing, too, so I clicked on over and did indeed enjoy the reading there, and will go back. (Go ahead, take a look.) lisamcc, then, made more than one mention of The Houseboy (inkwell), who seems to be her husband (I�ve only read one of each of their entries so far), whose diary entertains as well.
What was I saying? Oh, right, somewhere in there, either Lisa or The Houseboy or both answered a few questions that he said came from Marquis , and since they are just the sort of thing that I live for, here they are. I would certainly enjoy seeing anyone else�s take on all of this, too.
Where were you:
1. When John F. Kennedy was shot (11/22/1963)-I remember every moment very vividly. I was in fifth grade, playing dodgeball with my class outside on a very overcast, gray afternoon. An old man walked by and told our teacher, who gathered us to her and told us. We went back inside, and knew for sure that the president had died when we saw the flag on the post office across the street being lowered.
2. When Mt. St. Helens blew (5/18/1980)- I have no idea, or no memory of being aware of this when it happened. Weird; I usually remember everything.
3. When the space shuttle Challenger exploded (1/28/1986)- I was in the cafeteria at school, just about to pay for my lunch; the cashier had the radio on and we heard. Shocking, startling, a frightened, empty feeling. I remembered when Apollo I burned on the launchpad, killing three astronauts.
4. When the 7.1 earthquake hit San Francisco (10/7/1989)- Watching the World Series, like everyone else, alone for some reason. No one else was home, although I can�t imagine where they all were.
5. When the Gulf War began (1/16/1991)- Watched it on TV, couldn�t believe I was watching an actual war as it happened. A few days later I got stuck at a railroad crossing here in town as an incredibly long train kept going and going and going. As I sat in the car with J1 watching it go by, we realized we were seeing tons of jeeps and other military equipment painted in desert camouflage, and that�s where it was going.
6. When OJ Simpson was chased in his White Bronco (6/17/1994)- I was asleep. I was the only person in America who didn�t see it. My sister was recovering from surgery in the hospital and was on a morphine drip, and she saw it, and told me about it the next day.
7. When the building in Oklahoma City was bombed (4/19/1995)- Hmm. My Colleague heard on the radio in her office that something had happened and said I should turn on the TV in the library, but I said no, we didn�t know what it was and didn�t want to upset kids, and I�m the boss. Years earlier, when Israel had been bombed, I turned the TV on so all the Israeli kids in school could watch, and they freaked. I was overcautious this time and I was wrong. We knew very few details until we got home later that day.
8. When Princess Di was killed (8/31/1997)- I heard about it on the news and thought it was all too strange, but I was never a big Di fan, so I wasn�t crushed or anything. Just sad that her fairy tale life had ended up this way, and sad for her children.
9. When Bush was first announced President (11/7/2000)- When was it finally announced? It dragged on for so long. What�s that line from The Birdcage? �How do I feel? Betrayed, bewildered ��
10. When the 6.8 earthquake hit Nisqually, WA (2/28/2001)- Excuse me? I do remember when there was an earthquake in Brooklyn and I thought the old house we lived in was blowing up because how often is there an earthquake in Brooklyn? Does anyone in Washington remember that?
11. When terrorists knocked over the World Trade Center (9/11/2001)- Well, we all remember. Colleague was on the phone with her son, who worked north of Boston, and he heard it on the radio in his office. After the Oklahoma City thing, I knew better, and I put the TV on right away. There were about 30 kids in the library and a couple of teachers, and then the bell rang and they all left. Soon, all the teachers with no class that next period were there, watching. We watched as the first tower fell, and then the next. We couldn�t see the smoke from the high school itself, but it could be seen from other parts of town that were elevated. (We�re about ten miles west of Manhattan.) People started making cell phone calls like crazy, and all you could see up and down the halls were people clutching phones and crying with relief, and starting to tell amazing stories of whose husband or mother or whatever had gone to work late that day, or missed the train, and were okay. By the end of the day we knew that the E and S, brothers, had lost their father when the first plane hit.
